I've officially made the switch from Diet Pepsi to regular pepsi. So far, havent even opened a can but in case I'm in the mood for it, I'd rather have sugar than aspartame. I drank a shit ton of Diet Pepsi before I found out, I hope I havent done any damage from the aspartame

you would have to drink A LOT of diet soda for it to effect your baby.
since I got pregnant I have not had a lot of soda and had looked it up and on the American Pregnancy Association website it says that aspertame is safe for pregnant people but i still asked my OB about it. He said that since I'm only drinking one caf. free diet soda a week or every other week then its fine and wont hurt my baby

Unless you're on an aspartame IV drip, nobody here is damaging their babies by drinking a few diet sodas. I think worrying over drinking a diet soda is worse for you than just having a diet soda and forgetting about it.

Why Drinking Soda Can Destroy Your Health


Mmmmmn soda. It's bubbly, crisp, cold, refreshing and sweet, and really does the job of washing down a big, greasy cheeseburger. If you opt for caffeinated pop, it really does the job of picking you up out of a midday slump. Despite soda having a sweet side, the reality of the uplifting fizz is that it can trash your chompers, contribute to obesity and diabetes, and there is even emerging evidence that the carbonation in soda may be responsible for the rise in oesophageal cancer in countries where citizens are regular soda consumers. Really, it's a shame, since I enjoy soda myself, but the best thing you can do is to drastically reduce your intake or eliminate it altogether, if you dare. Oh, and I don't recommend regular consumption of big, greasy cheeseburgers, either.

Reason #1: Sugar Content

Obviously, soda has loads of sugar, which makes it deliciously (and addictively) sweet, but do you know that some sodas have up to eleven teaspoons of sugar per 12 ounces!? Can you imagine manually spooning eleven teaspoons of sugar into something you were about to drink? Yuck. You can practically make a batch of cookies with that amount. Sugar, like the soda it sweetens, has been the subject of much controversy over the years, and there is confusion even among health professionals about what health conditions and ailments it has the ability to cause. The first proven way sugar adversely affects your health is through temporarily impairing your immune system by lowering white blood cell activity by 50%--all within 10 minutes of swallowing. What does this mean? This means that your body, after drinking soda loaded with sugar, has a reduced ability to fight off infection and sickness, and this affect lasts up to 5 hours.


Why Drinking Soda Can Destroy Your Health - Associated Content

Obviously, anything that is not consumed in moderation can destroy your health. There's nothing wrong with having a can of soda a couple times a week. Honestly, it's only the people who reach for a coke when they're thirsty, as opposed to drinking water, that this even applies to. And these people are generally the ones who have other dietary and lifestyle habits that contribute to obesity, diabetes, etc, anyway. You can't pin all these problems on soda, and call it "bad"--it's perfectly fine in moderation. People need to learn to eat fruits, veggies, and whole grains instead of hamburgers, pizza, and fries, and that clicking the remote control while watching TV does NOT count as exercise.

As with everything in life, moderation is key. I drank 1-2 sodas per week pre-pregnancy, and aside from that made healthy dietary choices, and ran 6 miles a day, on top of training my horse hunter-jumper.

Soda is not the culprit of the diseases and conditions you mention: the blame lies in the inability of some to make healthy lifestyle choices. Cutting out soda will not solve these problems, as the people who drink enough of it to have the effects you mention generally make so many other decisions that are equally detrimental to their health, that one change isn't going to fix their problems.

Not true. My mother drank diet coke when she was pregnant with me. She had 1 a day, maybe 2. She continued to drink them after I was born to cut down the baby weight.

I ended up looking like one of those little children from Africa with the skinny arms and bloated belly. The aspartame caused my body to flush all nutrients from my system. I was 10 months old and weighed 10 pounds.

I know have ADD and a neurological disorder that no one can pin point as to why or what caused it. I have had twitches my entire life, which have gotten worse into adulthood. I think it has something to do with the aspartame while my mom was pregnant.

I still have severe side effects if I induce some aspartame by accident. Like today, ran through mcdonalds because I was craving a coke. Drive off and take about two sips and realize its diet. I had a bad migraine and a wrenching stomach ache the rest of the day, just from TWO sips. I am highly allergic to it. Two or three diet cokes could kill me.

Here's the thing. Soda is bad for you like a million other things out there are bad for you. It has a lot of things in it (ie: tons of sugar) that aren't great for you, but like all things that aren't great for you I say consume in modesty.

So to answer your question, no, you're not a terrible mother for having a soda every once in a while.

Regardless of the crazy amounts of sugar and caffeine...i will still continue to enjoy my soda..lol. My baby is perfectly fine (from what I know) and ive been drinking it my entire pregnancy. Call me a bad mom but I need my caffeine.

You forgot anal leakage!!

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think anything carbonated would be a bad idea during pregnancy.. It causes gas! and pregnant woman have enough of that already..